Political Quotes

“I am pleased to begin the Senate debate on the fiscal year 2019 appropriations bill for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. Our bill has been included in the appropriations package now before this Chamber. Let me begin my remarks this morning by thanking Chairman Shelby and Vice Chairman Leahy for their leadership in advancing these appropriations bills in record time. It is great to see the Senate getting back to regular order in moving the appropriations bills across the Senate floor, allowing for robust debate and amendment, and then bringing those bills to conference with our House counterparts. That is the way the system should work, as opposed to all of these bills being bundled together in an enormous, many thousand-page omnibus appropriations bill. I am very pleased to see the progress that we are making. I also want to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of my friend and colleague Senator Jack Reed, who serves as the ranking member of the T-HUD Subcommittee. I have worked very closely with Senator Reed in drafting this bill. We have also received input from more than 70 Senators, with in excess of 800 requests, each of which we very carefully evaluated. So I can assure this Chamber that this legislation is truly bipartisan. The T-HUD bill provides $71.4 billion for our Nation's critical infrastructure and housing programs.…”